a little homeschooling update

Have I mentioned that my computer crashed taking with it all of my photographs from the last year or so? I am just not having luck with anything electronic lately. I am praying that we'll be able to get the photographs off of it once we take it in to an expert though. Please, please, please... I have so many photos I have been wanting to share and news to go with them. I hope I get them back!

Somehow or other I managed to misplace the children's painted pumpkins from previous years. I am sure they are just in the wrong seasonal box or something. Nevertheless, the children decided that was a good excuse to make some more this year.  L accidentally applied too much paint to his (reminding me that he needs more regular painting days - I have fallen behind) but big sister K came to the rescue and showed him how to soak it up. She is my little teaching assistant some days and I am so grateful for it! The girls decided today that they wanted to do some more pumpkin painting but this time in miniature form to make a garland out of, combining two of our favorite projects (seen here and here). Hopefully it will be dry and strung up before Saturday.

C has been playing a bit of catch up in her homeschooling handwork. She just finished up some chickens the other week. She knit the yellow one for herself and the green one for her dear friend that we went to see in Oregon (green is his favorite color). I have to say I am rather impressed by her stitches. She knits really tightly and neatly already. She is quite fast, too! She finished up her rainbow ball in just a couple of days and right now she is already on to her sheep. Next will be a lion. She is really looking forward to that. Then she'll be moving up to the second grade handwork projects which involve her making a new set of knitting needles in a smaller size (her current needles are about size 10 and she'll be moving down to about a 7).

Speaking of homeschooling - K is finally officially starting her fourth grade year next week. She pretty much demanded we start, telling me that she would just teach herself if I didn't hurry up. I totally appreciate and understand her enthusiasm.  I admit that fear of the first main lesson block (geography) and my focusing on catching C up has caused our delay. I finally decided that Kevin would be best to teach her local geography and that since he can't do it at the moment (did I mention he started college back up?! I'm so proud of him) we'll just start on the next main lesson block and move that one to another time in the school year. Of course the next main lesson block is math - fractions. Ack! But thankfully I still have some confidence from C's great math run that I feel up to the challenge.

While she has been waiting, K has been keeping herself very busy with her American Heritage Girls projects. Thankfully she is always looking for ways to learn and will absorb all that she can. She has been working on fire safety with Kevin and is thrilled that she can start a fire on her own now.

Oh, She is also supposed to be working on macramé this next lesson block in homeschooling. I have never done this before so we'll be learning together. Any advice?

The AtTheCrossroads giveaway ends tomorrow. Last chance to enter here!

a little homeschooling update